Infant Sleep Disorders: A Parent's Nightmare

Infants go through a phase of sleeplessness. Going beyond that period is a cause of alarm since it signals a probable form of infant sleep disorder. A distinction should be made on whether the sleep disorder is caused by behavioral abnormality or other sleep problems as recorded in polysomnography tests. Infants usually outgrow sleep disorders but should be looked into if it goes beyond, usually if it persists beyond two or three years. Although sleep disorders are experienced by both adults and children, it is more difficult for the family if an infant is suffering from a sleep disorder. Those frequent screaming and crying during the night doesnt fail to wake up the entire household. Since babies seem to be helpless and require immediate attention, it is no wonder that every member gets affected, thus creating havoc in the family routine. Scientists encounter problems in the identification and treatment of sleep disorders in adults and infants since infants go through a phase when this is considered normal, usually in babies two to three months old.

Night terror usually occurs about 90 minutes after the infant has fallen asleep. There are physical manifestations of fright like screaming, groaning and moaning. This should, however, not be confused with having a nightmare. In a nightmare, the events that occurred can easily be recalled and is usually due to stress or fatigue. The child awakens when a nightmare is experienced. In night terror, a child shows signs of fright while still sleeping. They are inconsolable for more than 30 minutes but has no recall of the cause of fear other than the feeling itself.

Nocturnal enuresis or bed wetting is a common infant sleep disorder. This is usually hereditary and may be due to some faulty genes. Babies who experience stress and are behind in certain areas of physical or psychological development, are more likely to suffer from nocturnal enuresis. About one to three percent of infants suffer from OSAS or obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. They usually snore and resort to mouth breathing since normal breathing stops or the heart skips a beat. Babies are usually irritable and crying when they awoke so when this occurs, infants need some parental response. They need to be caressed, hugged or rocked to back to sleep. OSAS may also affect the childs feeding schedule. Disorders of Initiating and Maintaining Sleep or DIMS are also experienced by toddlers. They experience difficulty in getting to sleep and need some stimulant like drinking a glass of water or hearing bedtime stories. This relaxes them and eventually lulls them to sleep.

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